


Reuniting the family

by pastelserpent



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Developing Relationship, Eventual Romance, F/M, Falling In Love, Family Dinners, Growing Up Together, Hogwarts, Love, Love Confessions, Pre-Relationship, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Teen Romance, The Burrow (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:27:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28480905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastelserpent/pseuds/pastelserpent
Summary: “okie and…” I trailed off hinting for him to fill in the remaining details, “basically, mum has decided that if they are going to bring a plus one, everyone else should get to as well.” I leaned back in my chair, crossing one leg over the other, “so you mean to say Mrs Weasley actually encouraged filling the burrow with relevant spouses, partners and ‘friends’?” Fred nodded, leaning forward onto the desk, folding his arms ahead of him and then propping his face up on them. “obviously everyone else already has plans on who they’re going to drag along with them,” I raised my eyebrow, “except you?” a small smile spread onto his lips, “well I was going to ask my wonderful best friend to come with me for support and giggles, and to uh keep me sane.”*1st person perspective** hope you like this!!!*** happy new year!!!!
Relationships: Fred Weasley/Reader
Kudos: 33





	Reuniting the family

Advanced potions was beginning to seem like a really stupid choice in NEWTs, it was difficult, complex, and had one of the worst teachers in the whole entire school, who loved nothing more than tormenting and torturing Gryffindor students. Sighing tiredly, I ran my free hand through my hair, swiping my fringe out of my face, using my other hand to keep my textbooks balanced against my hip – and to stop my bag falling off my shoulder. The walk back to the Gryffindor common room was not one I enjoyed, the walk was long and the dungeons were dark and cold, I always expected to fall over one thing or another. 

“y/n!” a voice from behind me called, sighing I turned to watch Fred Weasley catch up to me, “you know how you love me,” he started immediately taking my textbooks out of my hands, and adding them to the small pile of his own books. “you only start like that when you want something,” I stated flatly, as he looped his spare arm around my shoulders, “well I may want, slash need something,” he replied as we walked back into the main school and stood waiting for one of the various staircases to stop that would take us up to the common room.

“and what do you need, my dear best friend,” he smiled, “wouldn’t you like to know,” I stepped ahead of him onto the staircase and then waiting a moment for it to move before I began climbing it, “I'm sure you’re just dying to tell me,” I replied climbing off the last step of the staircase and out into the corridor that would lead us along to the Gryffindor common room. “so, you know how I told you a couple of weeks ago that Bill and Charlie were going to be at home at the same time?” I nodded as we fell into step beside each other, making our way towards the portrait, “well they’re both bringing some people with them,” my eyebrow rose as I muttered the password, and then stepped inside. 

“’some people’?” I quoted warily, already anticipating how Mrs Weasley would either adore the guests or loath them (most likely with every fibre of her being – good luck to the guests). “well Bill is obviously bringing Fleur, but Charlie’s is a little unknown, a friend with benefit, from what I gather,” we walked over to a table on the far deserted side of the common room. Settling opposite each other, Fred dumped our books on the centre of the circular table before pushing them off to the side to look at me, “just the one benefit?” I asked, attempting to hide my smirk, “I assume more than one benefit, but that particular benefit is probably the main one,” I laughed quietly, pulling the quill out of my hair, that until that point had been keeping it in a bun out of my face – and out of the potion Snape had insisted we make. 

“okie and…” I trailed off hinting for him to fill in the remaining details, “basically, mum has decided that if they are going to bring a plus one, everyone else should get to as well.” I leaned back in my chair, crossing one leg over the other, “so you mean to say Mrs Weasley actually encouraged filling the burrow with relevant spouses, partners and ‘friends’?” Fred nodded, leaning forward onto the desk, folding his arms ahead of him and then propping his face up on them. “obviously everyone else already has plans on who they’re going to drag along with them,” I raised my eyebrow, 

“except you?” a small smile spread onto his lips, “well I was going to ask my wonderful best friend to come with me for support and giggles, and to uh keep me sane.” I scoffed quietly, “look at you trying to butter me up,” he smiled as I reached across and ruffled his hair fondly, “is prick Percy planning an appearance?” Fred groaned and visibly winced at the thought, sitting back up and stretching, “if he decides to grace us with his presence, and arrogance it should make for a very fun weekend.”

Having been friends with Fred for many MANY years, I had also grown a dislike of the older Weasley brother, preferring to steer clear of him wherever possible. “I think mum would like it if he showed up, but if he does show up, he better keep his mouth shut,” I smiled wryly, “I take it he’d be bringing Penelope?” Fred nodded, “she’s a nice girl, I just don’t get what she sees in him,” I laughed quietly. “love is blind sweetie,” he nodded in agreement. 

“But what do you say? Will you come with me? to keep your best friend – who you love so much – slightly saner than he would otherwise be,” I scoffed at how he referred to himself in the third person, as though that was somehow more likely to convince me. “ahhhh as much as I would LOVE to, I'm not seeing what I get out of this,” a smug smirk etched across his face at my statement, “well other than getting to spend time with yours truly, you also get to gloat to Anastasia, what more could you ask for.” I rolled my eyes.

Anastasia already hated me with many (if not every) fibres of her being, I did not need to increase her hatred for me – though granted, how it could grow any bigger than it already was, was a mystery to me. Being in the same house as her, was more than enough of a pain in the ass, and her very obvious jealousy over any female friends that either Weasley twin had, had become increasingly painful over the years. “I can assure you darling, that is not an incentive,” I replied, reaching for one of my textbooks and flipping it open to the read the recipe for the next potion that Snape had decided he wanted to inflict upon us. 

Fred immediately snapped the book back shut. “you haven’t mentioned who George or Ron are bringing with them,” I noted, raising my eyebrow as I took back my textbook and reopened it, “is that a deciding factor?” he quipped, “if they’re going to be at the Burrow the whole time, yes. I need to be able to tolerate the other ‘friends’ who are being dragged along.” He chuckled to himself, taking one of his own textbooks off the pile, and opening it – to make it appear like he was doing something, even if he never was. Lucky sod had the benefit of natural intellect, as he had proven over the years, while simultaneously infuriating me, who actually had to work for their grades. 

Glancing across at Fred, my eyebrow rose silently, he had completely spaced out – not completely out of sorts – but definitely not the boyish cheeky Fred that he presented while at Hogwarts. I only got to see the quieter, more thoughtful side to Fred when we were truly alone, and usually, nowhere near Hogwarts. “So, who is coming?” I reminded him, he snapped out of his daydream, looking across to meet my eyes, “okay so, George is bringing Angelina, but she said she’s only staying for the evening, and then going home,” I made no comment on my dormmate’s silence about this when we had been talking about the Weasley twins on our way to the quidditch grounds – her to play, me to watch. 

“ok, what about Ron?” Fred raised his eyebrow at me, “do you really need to ask,” I made an ‘oh’ sound, the realisation dawning on me, “Hermione.” He nodded, “except I don’t think she knows she’s being dragged along as his plus one, so should be interesting when she realises that” I scoffed quietly, “he’s stupid to do that,” Fred shrugged, “don’t you know Ron well enough by now?” I groaned under my breath, before nodding, “and Ginny?” Fred’s knowing smile returned.

“guess,” I tilted my head to the side, attempting to read his face, before turning to survey the common room. Admittedly I didn’t know that well who was in each year, I just took random guesses depending on the complaints (or swoons) I heard from the younger Weasley siblings, “if it was special Potter, I suspect you would’ve said so by now,” I commented, my eyes ignoring where him and the other members of the golden trio were sat. My eyes roamed slightly further, finally stopping on where Ginny was sat with Dean Thomas, I spun back around in my chair to face Fred, 

“Dean!?!” he nodded knowingly, tapping the side of his nose. “I don’t think Ron knows just yet,” I slowly peeked back around to look at where the two of them were sat, and then to where the golden trio were talking in low voices, “that should be interesting.” I muttered under my breath, repeating Fred’s earlier words, suddenly glad that I could hide behind Fred as much as needed. “you better not introduce me as your girlfriend,” I stated picking back up my quill, beginning to write several lines on the parchment for my next disastrous potions lesson.

“would I do that to you?” he replied earnestly, a twinkle in his eye, “I know you too well,” I stated flatly, pushing several strands of hair over my shoulder in an attempt to focus on my homework instead of one of my closest friends – who I had had uncomfortably growing feelings for. He smiled to himself, “don’t worry, you’ll be there like you always are, as one of my closest friends,” I offered him a smile of my own, turning over my piece of parchment to make a few more notes. 

“what are you expecting it to be like?” he shrugged, before shifting slightly in his seat, like he knew the answer to my question but for some reason wasn’t a hundred percent confident to give it. “you know, so you may as well tell me, and prepare me for a weekend of pain,” he chuckled under his breath, looking directly at me as he straightened up in his seat. “fine, mum is going to be trying to figure out the respective partners, that’s all I honestly know in any clear detail,” I raised my eyebrow silently, “so the meetup is just an excuse to interrogate the partners?” he shrugged, not agreeing or disagreeing. 

Sighing, I straightened up in my chair, and swopped my hair up into a messy bun, “you better not let her interrogate me, I'm there as your friend,” he smiled, the small twinkle in his eye shining brightly, “of course love, I’ll protect you,” I scoffed to myself, tidying my books into a pile. “we’ll see,” ruffling his hair, I propped my books onto my hip, deciding that studying in my quieter – and more private – dorm room might be a better alternative than the onlookers who had taken a growing interest in our conversation as it had progressed. And as I made my way up the stairs, I didn’t miss the daggers that Anastasia was shooting at my back. Oh, to be a jealous girl. 

Sighing I made my way into the dorm room, letting the door slam behind me as I settled on the bed, on multiple occasions I had been subjected to an interrogation by Mrs Weasley – and had since made a point to keep on her good side, thus avoiding any interrogation she could attempt. Though with everyone else’s ‘friends’ being dragged along for the weekend; I could only hope that she would be so side-tracked by them, and their appearance, that she wouldn’t be paying enough attention to me – to realise the feelings I had. With that thought in mind, I reopened my textbook.

….

Classes were hectic, as usual. And my timetable flung me from one end of the castle, to the other, and back again. By the time I had made my way into the common room – with only a day left of the term – I really had no interest in dealing with anyone. But clearly, I had offended some demon in a former life, and karma really wanted to hit back at me; as no sooner had I made it through the portrait hole and into the common room, I was being ambushed by a very irritated, and very jealous, Anastasia. “you’re going home with Fred Weasley!?!” her mild hysteria aside, her annoyingly high-pitched voice, was just the tipping point that my headache had been waiting for. 

My long buried headache sprung back to life, her irritating voice making it pound harder, “I don’t honestly see what business of yours it is,” I replied, agitated at not being allowed to get through the common room to my friends in peace, my friends who were sitting pleasantly unaware of my growing temptation to hit the girl in front of me with one of my particularly heavy transfiguration textbooks. “just answer the question, y/l/n,” she growled lowly, my fingers gripped my textbook ever so slightly, seeing the Weasley in question appear several metres behind her, talking with Lee Jordan. “I didn’t hear a question there, Burk, I heard a statement,” I replied, mustering the sweetest smile I could.

“So, it’s true!??!” she almost screamed, and I winced. “again, I don’t see why you need to know,” I shot Fred a sharp look over her shoulder, who was no longer oblivious to the crap I was putting up with. Rolling my eyes at her, silently begging him to put an end to this girl, I made a move to push past her, “why you,” she hissed, “what’s so special about you?” I groaned, my blood boiling at her arrogance to ask such a question, but internally I had been asking the same question for months. “Because I'm friends with him,” I replied through gritted teeth, having had enough of her, I pushed past her, returning her glare with one of my own. 

“what was that about, short stuff?” Fred asked, popping up beside me, putting an arm around my shoulder as he looked back to where Anastasia had been stood. “just the usual crap,” I muttered quietly, I had for months been questioning if I was worthy of Fred, of being his friend, of being something more to him. These were concerns that my mind thought about almost every night when I couldn’t sleep, and I certainly didn’t need someone to voice my concerns. Least of Anastasia Burk. “don’t let her get to you,” he murmured, ruffling my hair gently, I sighed looking down at my feet, “I know,” I mumbled, offering him a weak smile, before settling in the armchair that my friends had saved for me in the corner of the common room.

“What did Burk want this time?” Bella asked running a hand through her messy silver hair, as I got comfy in the armchair, resting my pile of books on my lap. “What do you think?” I challenged, she rolled her eyes in response, “someone just knock her out already,” she muttered under her breath, a small smile rose to my lips, as I crossed on leg over the other, and pulled my glasses out of my hair, pushing them onto my face. “I mean I would do it happily, but my parents would definitely have an opinion on that,” I replied, Rose rolled her eyes, laughing as she stretched back on the sofa, 

“but for real, aren’t you excited to be spending a weekend with Fred?” Alice asked lowering her voice, I shrugged, “everyone else is going to be there too, I'm more anxious than excited.” Alice flicked a stray strand of her red hair over her shoulder, “yeah but, big gatherings are always more intimate,” the other two nodded in agreement, twinkles appearing in both of their eyes. “I don’t like the way you said ‘intimate,’” I commented, completely sidestepping the rest of her statement, “you know what I meant.” 

Alice replied, waving her hand at me – her way of telling me to stop trying to avoid answering her. “Oh, I know exactly what you meant, and I have no intention on telling him. It wouldn’t change anything, or make anything any more comfortable, it would just make it awkward. In all the years I have been friends with him, it has never been awkward, I have zero intention on making it awkward now.” Sighing I stretched back in the armchair, of course my friends had a point, burying feelings never did anyone any good, and it would eventually harm the people involved. But the weekend where the whole family had friends and spouses there, was not the time to admit to my feelings. 

Especially not with so many pairs of listening ears, that would no doubt rejoice in the opportunity to tease, and as much as I knew that Fred would be able to get as good as he got – I wouldn’t want to, not because I was too nice to. But because I would be far too embarrassed to. No, for the mean time, it was better that he didn’t know. “He might find out one day,” I stated, hoping to subdue my friends’ irritation at my willingness to push my own feelings aside in favour of everyone else, “let us know for the day,” Rose replied dryly, fiddling with her hair again.

Sighing, I made my excuses, and retreated up into the dorm room, placing my books on my bedside table, and stuffing my bag onto the hook that I had put beside my wardrobe and cubby hole – where the rest of my stuff had been shoved. Crouching down at the bottom of my bed, I opened my trunk, pulling out the clothes I kept for the last day of term – and travelling back to Kings Cross, and put them into the empty cubby hole. We had already began tidying away and knowing I would spend the first weekend after leaving Hogwarts, at the burrow, meant I was even more aware of how neatly packed I needed to be when I returned home to collect my things for the weekend. Reaching for some comfortable clothes, and my favourite shower gel, I made my way into the bathroom. 

The sound of the hot water gushing over my body, along with the sweet scent of flowers and marshmallows, my thoughts – and the words Anastasia hurled at me – finally silenced. Scrambling back out of the shower, and changing into some warm clothes, I re-entered the dorm room, relieved to find it still empty, and settled on my bed. It was probably too much like hope, to hope that Anastasia wouldn’t have found out, I just need someone to confirm my fears for me. Sighing again, I ran a hand through my hair, and glanced towards the door. It would be okay. It had to be okay. Fred had always made it clear that Anastasia was just a jealous teen, and I knew it, but it didn’t offer much comfort. 

….

Having spent three days at home, I stood in my cream bedroom, staring at my duffle bag that was on the chair at my desk. Running a hand through my hair anxiously, my eyes roamed back over my room for anything that I might have forgotten to pack, nothing stuck out to me, and I settled back on the bed. Reaching for my glasses, I fiddled with them for a moment between my fingers, before putting them into my hair. Ever since we’d finished at Hogwarts for the term, I’d been questioning why I’d agreed to be Fred’s plus one of sorts to his family gathering. I had one of two reasons in my mind, 

1\. He was my friend, I’d always support him and help him out how ever I could, 2. Was a more selfish reason. I wanted to believe that maybe we could be more than friends, and that maybe he felt the same way; having known Fred for so long, I was used to reading his body language, and I was used to him telling me about which girls he thought were particularly cute. But for the last few months he hadn’t mentioned anyone, and on the only occasion I had bought it up to him, he had batted it away with a wave of the hand saying I’d know when the time was right.

Groaning to myself, I looked myself over in the mirror opposite my bed, for the first night at the burrow I had opted for jeans and a baggy crewneck sweater, comfortable and appropriate, something that Mrs Weasley would adore – and probably a lot easier than what many of the other house guests would be wearing. Mrs Weasley had arranged this weekend as an excuse to scrutinise her children’s’ partners, and I knew exactly why Fred had always told me about keeping any of his crushes – no matter how fleeting – under wraps, so that nothing could happen when those feelings died out again. 

A soft knock on the door snapped me out of my thoughts, and I straightened up to see my mum stood in the doorway, “hey sweetie,” I smiled up at her, “did Fred say when he’d come collect you?” I shook my head, “he’s a nice boy,” she stated, I offered another soft smile, standing up and walking over to my duffle bag. I double checked I’d placed a nice few outfits in there as well as a couple of comfortable pieces of clothing, and my prized journal, sighing I zipped the bag back up and returned to my bed, only for the doorbell to ring.

“I guess that’s him,” my mum murmured offering me a smile, I nodded slowly, placing the duffle bag on my shoulder, she smiled at me, pressing a light kiss to my forehead. I followed her out of my room, and down the stairs, into the hallway where Fred was stood, red hair slightly wet from the rain outside, his grey hoodie and blue jeans also slightly wet from the rain that he must have walked through from wherever he had apparated from. It wasn’t like he could just apparate into a residential muggle street. Upon hearing our footsteps on the stairs he looked up and smiled, “hey short stuff,” I smiled back, wondering just what he was thinking, 

“hi skyscraper,” he chuckled, his smile faltering ever so slightly when my dad’s gaze fell upon him. “I’ve told you many times before, but this time especially…” I was already wincing, “please don’t say it dad,” I mumbled, gripping the bag on my shoulder a little tighter. “I have to tell him, seeing as you’re staying with him specifically,” turning back to Fred, who fixed a solemn expression on his face, “look after her, don’t let anything hurt her, or it’s me you will be answering to,” I shot my mum a pained expression as the protective nature my dad had, appeared.

“of course, Mr y/l/n, I would never let anything hurt her,” Fred replied, his hands earnestly in front of him, offering a solemn expression with a small – slightly – reassuring smile. “good,” my dad replied, shooting my mum a knowing look which she shook her head to, “have fun you two,” she murmured, pressing another kiss to my forehead, and gestured for my dad to do the same. They both walked into the living room, leaving us alone in the hallway, “we’ll apparate from in here, short stuff,” Fred told me, gesturing for something. I looked around in confusion to which he shook his head, 

“I know I'm attractive love, but at least try and keep your eyes focused,” I scoffed quietly, lightly slapping his arm. “your bag,” he stated, and I looked down in confusion, shaking his head and muttering something under his breath, he gestured for it, “give it to me,” my eyebrow raised silently, “I'm perfectly capable of holding a bag during apparition Freddie,” he shook his head at me again, “Merlin, you’re hard work sometimes,” I smiled at him, “you can’t have only just noticed,” he sighed, taking the bag off my shoulder, and slinging it over his own shoulder.

“deep breath,” he murmured taking my hand, and giving it a gentle assuring squeeze, and without another look to the hallway, we apparated. We’d already taken the apparition lessons at Hogwarts, but I still wasn’t used to the sensation of being pushed and pulled and squashed and squeezed in all directions. Seconds later and we were in a bedroom, Fred’s bedroom. “you okay?” he asked, attempting to steady me as I tried to regain my sense of balance, I nodded, placing my bag down at the foot of his bed. “mum said if you don’t want to share a bed while you’re here that she can always magic one up,” I shook my head automatically, “I wouldn’t want to put her under anymore stress than she is already under,” – even if the stress was of her own interest in her children’s relationships. 

“besides, we’ve done weirder things before,” I threw Fred a knowing look, watching a small smirk creep onto his face, “that is very true,” he agreed, pushing the door closed, and taking a seat on his bed, watching as I slowly glanced around his room once more. “has your mum met any of the new guests yet?” I asked, settling beside Fred on the bed, and pulling my knees up to my chest, as I sat half on the bed, half on the window seat that he must’ve installed at some point between my most recent visit and the weekend stay.

“when I came to get you, not that I was aware of it, but I suspect she might’ve met Charlie’s ‘friend’ already, as he left before I did to go and get her.” I nodded slowly, “you look… nervous,” Fred admitted after a moment, “even though I know Mrs Weasley, I'm still scared that she might turn around and scrutinise me, and realise I'm not good enough,” I admitted. “she would never ever do that to you,” Fred reassured me, “she loves you for one, and for two, she knows how much I care about you,” I offered a small soft smile, silently wondering if he cared about me the way I cared about him. 

“why don’t we go downstairs, and we can do our own thing for a little bit?” I nodded slowly, watching Fred leap confidently off the bed, and then turn to offer me a hand up, offering yet another small smile, I took his hand, and let him help me off the bed, that we both knew I was perfectly capable of getting off alone. Fred continued holding my hand the whole way down to the living room, dropping it just before we entered, and then following behind him into the room I saw why. The room was already occupying several people, Bill and Fleur were settled on one of the sofas, talking about a vacation that they wanted to take, while Charlie and his partner were settled in one of the armchairs, the girlfriend resting on his lap, talking in quiet hushed tones. Ron and George were nowhere in sight, and neither was Ginny, the lack of Percy was only a good thing in my opinion.

Fred ignored the sofas, settling on the floor, and I settled beside him, pulling my knees up to my chest, and resting my head against them. “you can put your head against my arm instead,” Fred murmured gently lifting my head up, and resting it against his shoulder instead, it was a common enough action for us, we had practically grown up together and were very comfortable in each other’s’ company so I didn’t think much of it. 

Gratefully resting my head against his shoulder, I glanced into the fireplace where a fire should’ve been – but had been put out for floo to be used while the other guests arrived. Mrs Weasley could be heard bustling about in the kitchen, and I wondered what she made of the guests she’d met or seen so far, I knew she liked Fleur – just about, but I wondered what she thought of Charlie’s girlfriend – who Mrs Weasley had had no idea about. The arrival of the other guests disturbed my thoughts, and the chaos of everyone trying to get back into their respective rooms to get changed for dinner was enough of a distraction to force me to focus on something else.

Once again in Fred’s bedroom, I waited on the bed while he got showered and then changed in the bathroom, attempting to keep my eyes averted from staring as he walked out of the bathroom and began buttoning up a simple white dress shirt – that he must’ve been saving, knowing his mum would want everyone to make an effort for the first meal of the weekend. I showered quickly, hyper aware that I didn’t want to take too long – even if the other guests did – and dried off, changing into one of the dresses that I had selected out of my wardrobe. 

But like every cliché mishap, the zipper at the side got stuck. I sighed, low key stomping out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom, “zip stuck?” Fred asked knowingly, I nodded silently, he rolled his eyes standing up from the bed. “don’t punch me if my hand goes somewhere awkward,” Fred muttered, slowly unzipping the zip, his spare hand holding my waist gently, applying enough pressure to stop the dress from slipping, while manoeuvring the zip.

“what kind of a person would I be to do that?” I replied ignoring the tingles his fingers sent along my skin, “my smol friend,” he replied grinning down on me, as he slid the zip back into place perfectly. “thank you,” I smiled up at him, wrapping my arms around him quickly to hug him, and then pulling on a cardigan over my dress, shooting him another smile. He smiled back at me, giving my hand a gentle squeeze, as I adjusted the trainer socks, I had put on to keep my feet warm on the cold floor of the dining room. 

Fiddling with my hair for a moment, I turned to look at Fred, who once again appeared lost in his own thoughts, “are you okay?” I asked him concerned at his regular spacing out, he snapped out of his thoughts and nodded across to me, smiling. I didn’t have any longer to question it as soon we were sat at the dining table, watching the older Weasley siblings load food onto the table, I was thankful to have been able to hide between Fred and George, one either side of me, allowing me to disappear out of scrutiny’s view from the other guests.

No sooner had the food been loaded onto the plates, Mrs Weasley was already going around couple by couple, making an effort to find out as much as she could before eventually (and often reluctantly) moving onto the next couple. It came as some slight relief when she skipped over me and Fred completely, instead turning to George and Angelina, the look of shock and irritation was evident on the faces of the other guests, that we hadn’t been interrogated like the rest of them had been. Only Fleur offered me a smile, as Fred’s hand slipped under the table, sliding his hand into mine, and entwining our fingers. 

I tried not to let the shock – or relief – show on my face, at his attempt to keep me calm and comfortable, “may I ask why you skipped Fred and his ‘friend’?” Charlie’s girlfriend – Clover, asked, her look fixed on me. “I already know all about them,” Mrs Weasley replied, shooting Clover a look that would’ve been enough to stop stampeding elephants or turn someone into stone. Clover’s eyebrow rose silently, but her irritation remained clear on her face, Mrs Weasley sent her a final silencing glance before continuing to talk to George and Angelina.

Fred looked across to me, “you okay?” I nodded offering a small smile, I had expected some kind of hit back from one of the guests, and it made sense to get it over with and deal with it. When dinner was at long last over, and we were free for a little bit, I made a point to stay close to Fred or Angelina when she was alone. It made me feel slightly less likely to get asked questions by Clover; and having already dealt with Anastasia’s belief in my inadequacy to even be friends with Fred – I didn’t want to deal with someone else’s unwanted opinion. Settling on the floor again, I leaned against the arm of the sofa where George and Angelina were curled up talking about quidditch plays – they were truly perfect for each other. 

“hey love,” Fred murmured settling beside me, “hey,” I replied, watching him closely for signs of him spacing out again, “what?” he asked quietly, ignoring the hum of conversation and few eyes that flicked over to us. “you keep spacing out,” I replied calmly, “any particular reason?” he looked across my face for a moment, “concerned?” I nodded silently, “I’ll tell you later,” my eyebrow rose silently, “pinkie promise,” he murmured, lifting up my hand, and interlocking our pinkie fingers for a moment.

For the rest of the evening, I spaced out, only re-entering the wider conversation when prompted to. I took great delight in Mrs Weasley eventually hurrying everyone off to bed and walked slowly with Fred back up to his room, behind everyone else after helping Mrs Weasley tidy up the living room, even against her protests. As we walked up the stairs, I smiled fondly on where I could see Mr and Mrs Weasley settled, talking quietly on what they made of everyone, “they really like you, you know,” Fred murmured as we walked up the next flight of stairs and in the general direction of his room, past George’s room. 

Angelina had already made her excuses and left, probably catalysed by Mrs Weasley’s well placed question of what her and George’ relationship was. Entering Fred’s room, I retook my seat on his bed, this time putting my legs up beside me on the bed, and watching him settle in front of me, “do you still want to know why I keep spacing out?” he asked, swivelling on the bed to face me.

“of course,” I replied earnestly, my eyes roaming his face for any hints at what might possibly be going on inside his head. He sighed sitting back on the bed, “it’s hard for me, to talk about this, because I'm afraid to mess up our friendship with what I want to say,” I tried to keep my expression neutral, praying to anyone that this wouldn’t end in tears. “we’ve been friends for so long, and I care about you so much, but I care about you as a lot more than a friend probably should, and more than a best friend too, just so damn much.” I had stayed quiet, attempting to stop the smile from rising to my lips too quickly, “I'm glad you care,” I finally managed to say, placing my hand on top of his, 

“I'm glad you’ve finally caught up too,” he shot me a confused look which then changed into a knowing smile. “you felt the same way, haven’t you?” I nodded silently, watching a wide smile spread over his face, “am I enough for you though?” I asked before he could move closer to me to give me a hug, “of course you are, you have always been enough, there is never a situation where you aren’t enough.” I offered a weak smile, the immediacy of his answer settling many of the annoying worries that filled my mind, “good,” I murmured, allowing him closer to give me a hug. I smiled as we lay back on the bed staring up at the ceiling, “so are we more than friends?” Fred asked, “depends if I'm more than just your plus one for this weekend,” I replied a small smile on my lips.

“we’ve always been more than just plus ones and friends.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hai everyone, I'm starting 2021 with a new piece of fanfic (and plenty more ideas to come) a year ago, I would never have imagined that something I wrote would be at nearly 1500 reads but here we are, and I feel truly blessed. I really enjoyed writing this piece and thought it was quite a cute sweet idea, so I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope everyone has a wonderful 2021, and you can expect to see more pieces from me - however due to school and exams I'm not sure how many pieces I'm going to be able to get out, but all of your support means the world to me, especially when I struggle to put anything out at all. This year I'm planning plenty more cute short stories and I hope you will all stay around to read them! As always feel free to leave comments and kudos, and to everyone who has subscribed to me - from the bottom of my heart, thank you, it means so much to me to see people wanting to support me and see what I put out. I hope you all have a lovely new year, and I will see you on my next piece! (which hopefully will be out soon!) thanks! bye!


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